Paxon Hollow Country Club

History

On October 18, 1924, The Brookline Square Club opened its new clubhouse and golf course along Mill Road in Havertown — a 118-acre plot which had once been the Pennington Farm, between the communities of Brookline and South Ardmore and behind the brand new Haverford High School on Darby Road. The Square Club (as many called it) was founded by a group of Freemasons, and it disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived — a victim of the Great Depression, it is believed. But not before its members in 1926 sold off the 18-hole golf course laid out on sloping terain above Cobbs Creek between Mill and Eagle Road. The Thomas Conway Corp. offered $1 million for the property, so the club voted to sell and find other quarters. The site of land now occupied by Paxon Hollow was selected and purchased shortly thereafter.

Francis Warner, then secretary of the Golf Association of Philadelphia, was invoved with the design of the new course. J. Franklin Meehan was hired to build the golf course. Meehan had extensive experience in the Philadelphia area in the early 1900s, already working on North Hills, Sandy Run and Brookside Allentown. There was considerable argument over the name of the new club. Many of the members wished to call it Trout Run Country Club after the stream that runs through the property, while others held out for its present name. In the election, Trout Run lost by just one single vote.

Paxon Hollow Country Club formed in the fall of 1926, and the first nine holes opened for play the following summer. Marcus Greer, a former Llanerch Country Club amateur star, was its first golf professional. The back nine was ready for play the following year, and John Beadle, assisted by his brother Ted, took over the professional duties. Beadle operated the club for many years and his name became synonymous with Paxon Hollow. By 1936, the club was in poor financial condition and was taken over by Girard Trust for a mortgage of $140,000. After World War II, a number of golfers, wanting a private golf facility of their own, leased the club and named their organization in honor of their old clubhouse, White Manor Country Club. Splinter groups from White Manor founded Meadowlands Country Club and Radnor Valley Country Club.

In 1962, Ralph Bodek, a Delaware County builder, purchased the club for a sum in excess of $600,000 and was unsuccessful in his attempt to rezone the property for real estate development. He operated the club as a semi-private golf club until 1966, when he decided to change it to a public facility. During these years, Bodek made extensive renovations to the clubhouse facilities. In 1967, Marple Township purchased the club for slightly more than $1 million.

During the ownership of White Manor, the back nine holes were changed considerably. Of the original back nine, only the 11th, 12th, 14th, and 15th remain unchanged. The course has been the site of many professional and amateur tournaments and has hosted such great players as Jack Nicklaus and Ed Dudley.

Locations

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